Behind Thy Crimson Eyes
by Chriss-Meister
Summary: The pain still remained but maybe he can heal me. Do I take the risk again? Mikan was a popular idol until she suddenly dropped from the celebrity world. No one knew what happened to her and she wanted to keep it that way. But the raven haired boy from her new school along with her new classmates may just reveal her unwanted past. Rated M for language and mature content later on.
1. First Impressions Are Imporatant

**Behind Thy Crimson Eyes**

**Mikan's POV**

The first thing I saw was his eyes. They seemed to draw me in, heart and soul. I didn't think that would ever happen again. I didn't _want_ it to happen again. Not after the wound still felt so…raw. But oh, those eyes, those burning eyes, piercing to my core, never faltering, as if taunting me, daring me to look away. But I couldn't. Well, for a few seconds I couldn't. After hearing that school bell I realized I was already late for my first day of classes. _Great._ Reluctantly, I tore my gaze away and walked briskly towards the academy.

**Natsume's POV**

I don't know what it was. But for some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. There wasn't anything special about her. She had long auburn hair that looked like it had highlights in the sun. She wore the academy high school uniform (though it looked like the skirt was pulled up an inch or two higher than school code). She had a red and black shoulder bag. Really, about everything was normal. But when I looked into her eyes…despite being across the courtyard I could see she had these brown golden eyes. They were glassy, as if she were about to cry, but still bright. They held pain and happiness, caution and curiosity. It was as if they held her whole life story.

Before I could dig any further she turned away. It wasn't until then that I realized she was staring back at me. It wasn't until then that I realized I was staring at _her._ _What the hell was I doing? When have I ever been so engrossed in someone else?_ Before the situation got any more out of my control, I dug my hands in my pockets and started towards the classroom.

**Third-Person POV**

"Okay everyone, settle down," soothed Narumi to his rowdy class. They all seemed fit to ignore him. "If you all don't listen up, I'll have no choice but to use my a-lice," he said in a sing-song voice. The entire class rushed to their seats and shut their traps. No one wanted to fall victim to Narumi-sensei's pheromone alice. "Now then. I have a new student to introduce to you all. I know the semester has already started so it's a bit strange to be having a transfer student, but please be nice and look out for the student." He smiled and winked at the class.

They immediately went into a frenzy. Who could the student be and why were they transferring here? Was the new classmate cute? Both the guys and the girls wondered that since Narumi had purposefully left the student without gender.

A few students were unfazed by the news and continued their daily ritual of ignoring Narumi during homeroom. Hotaru, with her black bobbed hair worked on a new complex invention, Natsume had a book over his face while sleeping, Ruka petted his rabbit sitting in his lap while leisurely looking out the window, while Sumire examined her nails.

"Did you try reading them, Koko?" Sumire asked nonchalant. Though she appeared to be bored with the subject, deep down she was a little bit curious herself.

"Yeah I did," he responded with an everlasting smile on his face. "But my mind-reading alice didn't work. It kinda, bounced off, as if it hit a wall," he tried to explain. He had straw light brown hair that was unkempt. "Whoever it is, he or she is quite powerful to be able to deflect my alice."

This only got the class even more riled up. They immediately began to rise back up to their usual rowdy homeroom behavior. Sensing this, Narumi went to the door to let the student in.

"Well, why don't we let them in now," he said, returning to his seat after opening the door.

Without further introduction, Mikan walked into the noisy room, and stood in front of her classmates. The room went dead silent once-again, this time much faster than when Narumi enforced it. She waited for Narumi to say something, but when she turned to him, he merely winked at her.

"Hello. My name is Mikan Sakura and I will be transferring into your class today. It's nice to meet you all," Mikan said in a cheery voice. The boys went wild. They couldn't believe such a beauty transferred into _their_ class!

"Well now, Mikan-chan. You can sit over there in the empty seat in the back." Narumi pointed to the seat next to Natsume, who still had his book on his face. Mikan gave a short bow to Narumi and then proceeded to her assigned seat. She could feel the stares and the whispers start up. This is _not_ the first impression she wanted to make. She didn't want to stand out here like she did in her old school. She stood at the top then. But now, she just wanted to coast through the middle.

As she sat down, ignoring the looks and comments, she half-sat, half-tripped into her seat, shaking the whole row.

Ruka looked up, startled at the bump, and the book on Natsume's face slipped off to the floor. The class filled with giggles and outright laughter. The mood seemed to lighten at Mikan's clumsiness.

**Mikan's POV**

_Oh, great. Now I'm a laughing stock. _But I didn't feel like I was being laughed at. My little trip seemed to bring me closer to my new classmates. A small smile crept on face.

Before I could redeem myself, the boy who sat next to me empty seat started to awaken. The moment his eyes opened, I realized who my new seat mate was.

It was the boy from the courtyard! His crimson eyes locked on mine. There seemed to be recognition in them for a moment. But I might have imagined it since they almost immediately narrowed into a glare.

"Way to be a clutz, strawberry," the red-eyed boy snickered. I was confused until I realized what he meant. My slightly good mood plummeted and was replaced by anger.

"You, you are…" I started, ready to explode. But knew if I did, I'd attract even more attention to myself. _Calm down Mikan. Just keep it together._ I took a deep breath and sat down in my seat, promptly ignoring his comment.

"Oh, so now you're ignoring me? What are you, five?" he sneered.

_Oh yeah. He was _definitely_ on my stay-away-from list._

"You deaf, strawberry panties?"

_My go-to-hell list too._


	2. Making FriendsMaking Enemies

**A/N:**Hey yall. I didn't even know anyone was reading this, so I was kinda surprised to see reviews. I had forgotten all about this story, truthfully, haha. But now I've decided to continue it, so enjoy~

I do not own Gakuen Alice. If I did, do you think I'd be sharing Natsume with the world? XD

**Mikan's POV**

The bell finally rang, freeing me from this horrendous situation. The other students were kind and friendly. Except they weren't the problem.

"Move it, strawberries, I can't get out of the row," Natsume said from next to me. I closed my eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. Without responding I stood, picked up my bag, and turned to walk away.

I could hear him snickering from behind me. What a jackass.

"Mikan-chan," called someone from behind me in the hallway.

I turned to see that it was a boy who was sitting in the front of the class. I think his name was Yu. He wore glasses and looked the total bookworm type. He seemed friendly enough.

"Hi, what's up?" I said turning to him. He ran to catch up to me and gave a slight bow.

"I'm so sorry about this morning!"

I looked at him, confused.

"You know…the whole thing with…Natsume?" he whispered.

Just hearing his name got my blood boiling. But I had to bite my tongue. A blow-out in the middle of the hallway was definitely not the greatest of ideas. "Why are _you_ apologizing?"

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Yu Tobita and I'm our class representative." He stuck out his hand for me to shake.

Used to this greeting I took his hand in mine. He wasn't much taller than me so we were practically eye level. "Mikan Sakura. But I guess you heard that already."

He merely smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

Wow, he really is friendly. Maybe he wouldn't be too bad to be friends with.

"Inchou!"  
A girl with wavy pink hair and another girl with straight blue hair came running towards us. They came to a stop in front of Yu. I had to admit, they were really pretty.

"Trying to get in good favor first, huh?" joked the pink-head. Yu started to sputter his denial but she had already turned away towards me. "Hi! My name is Anna Umenomiya, nice to meet you!" A big cheerful smile lit her face and made her cheeks rosy.

Before I even get a chance to respond, the other girl starts to speak. "I'm Nonoko Ogasawara. It's so great that you're in our class. I hope we can become great friends!" she cheers.

_Is everyone in this school cheery and happy?_ Instead of voicing my slight cynical thought, I only say "Nice to meet you." They ask me for my schedule, and I find out me, Anna and Nonoko have history together first period. They go on either side of me and we all make our way to first, chatting about the school. I'm happy that I made some friends before my first class.

We sit in the front of the class. The bell hasn't rung yet, so we all continue to talk about ourselves. Well, they talk about themselves, while I subtly change the topic every time it comes around to me. But then Anna asks me something that I don't know how to avoid.

"Did you have a boyfriend back where you lived?"

I stop dead in my tracks while my mind immediately travels back to the past. The past that I was trying so desperately to leave behind. I force a smile on my face. "I don't have a boyfriend," I say simply. They sigh collectively and I assure them that's the truth.

"That face is ugly."

_Who the hell?!_ I swivel to see a girl with a raven-haired bob-cut pass by our desk and take a seat behind us.

"Imai, that was mean," Nonoko says. She doesn't respond, merely pulls out her books and starts to write in her notes.

"And that is…?" I ask Anna. She seems to know everyone.

"Hotaru Imai. She's in our homeroom."

Really? I don't really remember seeing her. I want to say something snarky about that comment she said, but I know better than to provoke a fight here. So instead, I turn around to her with a smile, and introduce myself. "Um, guess we have this class together, huh?"

She doesn't respond, only looks up for a second then back down at her book. Cheeky. Her whole aura reads _how observant_ and is dripping with sarcasm. Finally, before I decide to give up, she speaks. "If you're done showing me that ugly smile of yours, could you turn back around?"

My anger rises. _How dare she talk to me this way! She doesn't even know me! She doesn't-!_ Oh, that's right, she doesn't know who I am. Nobody does. The realization of that makes my anger reside and leaves me feeling hollow for the rest of class.

When the bell rings, the snarky girl, Hotaru I believe, who was sitting behind me gets up and starts to leave. Gathering up my courage, I stand and hold her back.

"Can I help you?" she says annoyed.

"Um…if possible, I'd like to be your friend." _Wait, what? Where the hell had that come from?_

She looks at me skeptically. I must seem like a total creep. "It's just that…I transferred here today…" _Duh, Mikan._ "And I don't know that many people…" She continues to stare. I can see her begin to pull away. "…and nobody knows me." She stops in her tracks to stare at me. When she doesn't respond, I continue. "I…I'd rather not share about my past, but I'd like to at least make friends who know me. The real me…that's it."  
Hotaru stares some more. _Come on, I don't have anything else to say! I know that was a totally lame speech, but at least give me some kind of response!_ For all I know, she wasn't even listening to me.

"You're weird," she finally says. I can't help it, I laugh.

"Yeah, I guess I am!"

"Ah. So you _can_ smile."

I look at her, and she has a little half smile of her own. I laugh again.

When I hear a small gasp behind me, I turn around to see Anna and Nonoko standing there. I guess they were listening to our exchange. I smile at them. "I want to become friends with you guys, too."

They both laugh and embrace me. "Of course!" With that, we all walk out of class and make our separate ways. Hotaru is in my next class too. We walk into the English room, and I follow her to her seat, plopping down next to her. I'm in a much better mood than I was before. Making friends has nothing to do with keeping my secret. _But eventually…it will get out. And when that time comes..._ I shake my head, relinquishing my dark thoughts. I can do this. It won't be like last time.

The teacher comes in and begins the lesson. I'm taking notes diligently when almost halfway through, the door bursts open. Everyone looks up, startled. I groan at the sight of who stands there.

"Hyuuga, late to my class _again_ I see," the teacher chastises.

"How observant," he replies dead-pan. I look over at Hotaru who didn't even look up at the interruption.

"Get to your seat before I send you out," she says exasperated. She turns back to the board and continues with the lesson. The eyes of the class follow Natsume as he saunters to the back of the room. _Does this guy have a designated seat in the back of _every _classroom? No, no, no!_ I wasn't supposed to be thinking about this egghead! He'll get me riled up and in a bad position. I refuse to let him blow my cover.

He pauses for a moment before he passes our desk. I refuse to look up and I think Hotaru would sooner swallow a frog before she gave Natsume the time of day. I could feel his gaze on me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge. Finally, I heard him snicker and continue to the back of the room. I let out a breath I didn't even realize I was holding. Hotaru glanced over at me for a moment, and then continued to write in her book. She was really a diligent worker. I peeked over my shoulder at her book, expecting to see a page of neatly recorded notes, but instead she appeared to be sketching an outline for some type of machine. There were scribbles all around it, notes and mathematical formulas. Just looking at it made my brain hurt. I shrug and turn back to the board, trying to catch up with what the teacher was saying.

The second the bell began to ring, Hotaru was up and out of her seat. I quickly shove my books in my bag and run after her. "Hotaru! Wait up!"

She doesn't stop but I do see her slow her pace. I catch up in a few seconds and stumble next to her. "Why…do you always…leave…so quick?" I actually noticed that she left that class a lot faster than she left the one before. She doesn't answer me and I take the time to catch my breath.

"Imai," calls out a deep voice from behind us. She immediately stops this time, causing me to trip a little to turn around and see who it was. I narrow my eyes at the sight of him.

"Hyuuga," Hotaru says, turning with a blank face towards him.

"You taking on a pet project?" he says with a smirk.

"If I were, it would be none of your god damn business," she replies icily. This only made him smirk more.

_What's going on? She barely talks and doesn't really show her emotions. But I can actually _see _the hatred rolling off her right now._

"Never said I cared about any of your 'god damn business'," he says coldly.

_Looks like the feeling is mutual._

"Then why are you standing here having this pointless conversation?"

"Because you've got something I want," he replies plainly.

"Keep your disgusting hands off her," she growls. Literally, I can hear the rumble in her throat.

"What, you guys are besties now?" he smirks.

Without responding, Hotaru puts her hand in her pocket and protrudes a box that expands around her hand into a type of gun. Without hesitation she points directly at him and shoots. He neatly dodges as it creates a deep crack in the wall behind him. The students in the hallway shriek, and some crowd around to see the action.

"You want a fight, Imai?" With that, he creates a fire ball the size of a melon in his hand. _He has the fire Alice._ But I don't have much time to analyze before he blast it right at her. Hotaru glares as it comes closer to burning off her face.

"Hotaru!" I stand in front of her, blocking the path of the attack.

"You idi-!" Hotaru starts, but then there's an explosion. The bystanders scream and take cover, but the fire from the attack was being subsided. And then, it was gone. Not even any smoke was left.

Everyone stares on at the stilled confrontation. Natsume's eyes are wide with confusement and even Hotaru stares at the unscathed me before she realizes. "Nullification Alice," she states.

"Bingo," I say with a smile.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Natsume spits out. I turn to him and Hotaru just smirks.

"What did you think you were doing?!" I exclaim.

His face contorts into anger but before he can rebuttal, we hear a teacher charging down the hallway. He sucks his teeth and points at us. "I'll get you next time, Imai. And strawberry, you need to stay out of other people's fights." Turning on his heel, he quickly stalks off down the hall. The teacher comes then complaining about the damage to school property, but Hotaru had already pulled me away.

"Hotaru-" BAM. I hold my forehead in pain and see her holding a cannon type weapon.

"You're an idiot," she says, her emotionless face back in place.

"WHAT? You start a fight in the middle of the hallway with an unstable delinquent and I'M an idiot?" I pant out.

"Yes," she says smiling. I sigh, but I'm glad she's not in that black mood anymore.

"You know he's not gonna let this go…" I trail off.

"He's just upset that his attack was nullified. I'm not thanking you by the way, since I didn't ask for your help."

"Fair enough. But please be careful. I mean, he could have burned your face off!"

"Unlikely." She digs in her pocket and produces what looks like a pack of icebreakers. She pulls an unseen switch on it and her surrounding immediately becomes cooler. "I made this ages ago so his attacks wouldn't affect me at all."

"Wow," is all I say. I put my hand in front of her and that spot becomes warm. Realizing what I'm doing, I jerk my hand back. "Sorry. I wasn't trying to nullify…what exactly?"

"Invention Alice." She turns off the icebreaker and returns it to her pocket.

Venturing into unwanted territory, I ask anyway. "What's going on between you and Natsume?"

She stares at me blankly for what feels like forever before answering. "We have a history," she just says, vaguely.

"I can see that. But what type of history?"

"A bad one. One I'd rather not go into depth about. And I'm not talking about _that_ kind of history so you can get that thought out of your head right now."

I look at her, shocked. "Trust me, I wasn't even thinking that. It's obvious you wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. Unless it was electrified with a thousand watts."

She smiles at that. I like her smile. She doesn't do it often, from what I've seen, but it's really nice. She has this king of 'holier-than-thou' appearance and aura, but you really have to talk to her and get to know her to see that she's really just as young as the rest of us. "So, was what Natsume said right?"

"What did he say?" she said. She had a look that said 'when is anything he says right?'

"That we were best friends?" I say meekly.

"Of course not. I've just met you," she states. She hitches her bag higher on her shoulder and continues to walk.

"Oh. Right." I bong myself on the head for asking such a stupid question.

She turns and throws a smirk over her shoulder. "But I can see it in the near future." She turns back and walks briskly away. I smile brightly and run after her and cheer for her to wait up.


End file.
